Hockey: Correia, Gomes hat tricks help Dartmouth fight back to .500

MARION — Two not-your-average Joes unlocked the door to an explosive afternoon on Monday at Travis Roy Rink in a 6-2 triumph over ORR/Fairhaven that evened Dartmouth's at 5-5-2. Joseph Correia and Joey Gomes scored three goals each for the Indians, helped along by linemate Nick Cardoso's three assists.

MARION — Two not-your-average Joes unlocked the door to an explosive afternoon on Monday at Travis Roy Rink in a 6-2 triumph over ORR/Fairhaven that evened Dartmouth's at 5-5-2. Joseph Correia and Joey Gomes scored three goals each for the Indians, helped along by linemate Nick Cardoso's three assists.

Zack Mathews, Cam Severino and Jeremy Lawton factored in both ORR/Fairhaven goals with Mathews and Lawton scoring the goals.

WHAT IT MEANS: This was a game Dartmouth needed in the chase for a tournament berth that won't be available to them in the Old Colony League. Coming off a 3-1 win over Nauset on Saturday in Orleans, the Indians have built momentum at the start of the schedule's second half. Undefeated in the South Coast Conference (5-0), the Bulldogs are only concerned about how they played along with mounting injuries. Defenseman Sam Henrie left late in the game with his hand on ice. ORR was already missing Landon Goguen (back) and Garrett Peterson (illness).

ORR/FAIRHAVEN COACH ERIC LABONTE: "I thought we got dominated the entire game," said Labonte. "First six minutes we played pretty good. They're patient, they go D-to-D, reverse the puck, they broke out well. We didn't play the way we needed to play to compete."

DARTMOUTH COACH MIKE CAPPELLO: "Joey's been our leader on and off the ice all year long ... it was a big game for him," said Cappello of Gomes, his senior co-captain. "I was happy with the (first) line. I was especially happy with our defense. We have four guys (senior co-captain Evan McCarthy, senior Nick Bach, junior Ryan Gaydou and freshman Jack Arruda) out there logging a lot of ice time. They made a lot of good first passes. ... They played smart hockey, they got the puck to the net and they did all the little things we needed to do to win this game."

SOUTHCOASTVARSITY.COM STAR OF THE GAME: Gomes' hustle on the forecheck and heady play along the walls of Tabor's big rink wore out the Bulldogs' young defensemen, and Correia took advantage of the open ice with his long stride.

PLAY OF THE GAME: In the first period, McCarthy stepped in front of Severino's slap shot, taking it off the skate. It was the first of several such blocks by Dartmouth defensemen and symbolic of the sacrifice the Indians were willing to make in a must-win situation.

PIVOTAL SEQUENCE: The Bulldogs cut Dartmouth's lead to 4-2 with just 6.8 seconds remaining in the second period and got a power-play chance early in the third with heavy hitter Ryan Gaydou in the penalty box, but the Indians got timely saves from Brendan Sullivan and scored the put-away goal as the penalty expired.

ORR/FAIRHAVEN STATS: Chris Nadeau made 29 saves in net.

DARTMOUTH STATS: Sullivan stopped 13 of 15 ORR shots.

OUR TAKE: The young Bulldogs are ahead of their time as SCC frontrunner (5-0), and they'll be a better team in two years. Though on the tournament bubble, the Indians are more a team of the now, backboned by Sullivan and bolstered by an aggressive defense that supports its front lines.